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Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → Had enough with Singers I am taking vocal lessons, Anyone have tips?
After dealing with flaking singers for far too long I have am taking vocal lessons. I don't have illusions of being a front man, I just want to be able to sing and play and hit up some open mics or the solo acoustic gig. So have any of you gone this route? I have my first lesson wed. I just wanted to see if anyone has tips or things I should talk to the vocal coach about.
I bought Singing for Dumbies. I wasn't a very good student of the the book but it had a practice cd that was excellent. For about a week I drove around going "ah ah ah ah ah ah" going up in pitch, then I did tounge trills and lip trills and I'm telling you when your driving to work at 7:30 in the morning doing a lip trill you will get a lot of people looking at you strange. Your best bet is to take some lessons from this vocal coach and practice. Also drink only water. Soda and stuff will clog your vocal pipes up!
I don't have any tips Big E, but please keep us posted on how this goes. I really need to do the same thing.
Great idea Big E. I had a bunch of ear training classes at school, and its amazing what singing and learning to sing does for your sense of pitch. You might even find your guitar playing and ability to learn things by ear improving 
I took private lessons from a singing instructor on my campus... the dude sang solo at Carnegie Hall once.
We recorded the lessons to cd, and I have them in my iTunes for review whenever I want.
My problem is... I suck in my gut to keep it in throughout the day, and when you sing you have to inhale into your stomach area, and PUSH air out from your stomach area (as opposed to your vocal cords) and I have to relax my stomach muscles to do this. I always forget to do this on stage. 
I made the switch about 4 years ago - the vocalist left, so the drummer then took over and then eventually he left the band, so having done backing vox, I was left 'holding the baby'. I remember when I started I sucked - not a tuning issue, just needed lots of practice to learn how to play and sing with the right timing. There was no easy remedy, just practice. Now four years on, I can't imagine not fronting the band and I do get compliments on my vocals occasionally, although it's still hard work getting things nailed when starting on a new number.
My advice? No-one learnt how to ride a bike without getting on, trying and sometimes falling off. As long as you're mostly in tune and the timing is mostly right, small errors will iron themselves out over time. Good luck - hope you crack it man.
My advice? No-one learnt how to ride a bike without getting on, trying and sometimes falling off. As long as you're mostly in tune and the timing is mostly right, small errors will iron themselves out over time. Good luck - hope you crack it man.
+1 I learned originally how to sing at open mic nights. Lots of musicians waiting for their turn to play, but an audience that won't leave if you stink... and audience that can give you pointers... very good environment!
Coolaxeman wrote:My advice? No-one learnt how to ride a bike without getting on, trying and sometimes falling off. As long as you're mostly in tune and the timing is mostly right, small errors will iron themselves out over time. Good luck - hope you crack it man.
+1 I learned originally how to sing at open mic nights. Lots of musicians waiting for their turn to play, but an audience that won't leave if you stink... and audience that can give you pointers... very good environment!
Yep - sound advice there NPB - totally agree that some friends in the audience that can give their honest opinion is a great thing. Providing they don't say "give up!".
Sing along with everything you listen to, on your iPod, the radio, whatever. Try to match the pitches they're using. See if you can hear when you're sharp or flat. That's what helped me the most. Once I could hear whether I was off or not, and once I knew my range, it's gotten easier.
Thanks guys, going to work on a lot of the stuff you have posted. Knowing the lyrics inside and helps when your singing and playing. I also can usually stay in pitch when I sing along to the CD when I don't I am just ok.
Lessons start tonight I will let you know how they go.
OK I had the first lesson last night and for the most part it went well. I learn quite a bit and got a recording of warm ups to work on. The teacher said I have a nice range in my voice but the lower half (Chest Voice) isn't connecting to the upper half once we fix that we will need to work on getting the voice stronger and sounding better. I would say it was well worth it.
However I am not sure this teacher is right for me, a good chunk of my lesson was him telling me why I need to talk lessons weekly for at least a year. I just felt like I was getting more of a sales pitch than someone helping me achieve my goal. I still plan on going again because once we got past that he did help me improve my singing and doing the vocal exercises this morning I can tell already help.
I will keep posting my progress as I go.
Amazing how a professional can come in and teach you in 10 minutes what would have took you by yourself years even if you ever did figure it out! I sure wish I did that for Guitar, I've played 13 years and I feel like I just now have a good idea on how to play a few ideas for solos. I'm sure if I had taken lessons I could have been where I'm at now 10 years ago!
Yeah, I had to take up the vocal position as well...lots of work doing a 4 hour gig singin AND playin...sometimes takes the fun out of it...the plus side...NO egotistical vocalists to deal with and the bands gross take home pay increases!!!
Im not that good of a vocalist but I try...started out as a "placeholder" during rehearsals til we got a new singer and soon enough I was stuck with it...heres a quick example of a Joe tune Im sure you'll recognize...
http://s410.photobucket.com/albums/pp18 … Bridge.mp4
Good Luck to ya, and yeah, water only at the gigs!
OK I had the first lesson last night and for the most part it went well. I learn quite a bit and got a recording of warm ups to work on. The teacher said I have a nice range in my voice but the lower half (Chest Voice) isn't connecting to the upper half once we fix that we will need to work on getting the voice stronger and sounding better. I would say it was well worth it.
However I am not sure this teacher is right for me, a good chunk of my lesson was him telling me why I need to talk lessons weekly for at least a year. I just felt like I was getting more of a sales pitch than someone helping me achieve my goal. I still plan on going again because once we got past that he did help me improve my singing and doing the vocal exercises this morning I can tell already help.
I will keep posting my progress as I go.
If you can tell an improvement after one session I would keep going!
So here is where I am at with the singing so far:
The good:
After doing the vocal exercises for about two weeks about every other day and singing almost everyday. My voice is stronger, I can sing longer and hit notes easier. And the singing and playing is getting a bit easier.
The Bad:
Haven't heard from my teacher he said he would be gone for the Holiday and contact me when he gets back but he hasn't. Its ok still not sure about him. The singing is better but man it doesn't sound good. I am talking about the tone of my voice, my pitch is ok but sometimes I sing either to high or to low and the middle just isn't as strong as the upper or lower range if you can follow that.
I am going to keep working on it but its going to be a much longer road than I even thought. I recorded something with a backing track maybe I will posted it later this week.
Thanks,
Eric
Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → Had enough with Singers I am taking vocal lessons, Anyone have tips?
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